Paradise City
'' Receitva was the smallest district built in Telo-Haljr, built right up against Terria. Its purpose was to provide cheap, clean, and efficient power to the entirety of the megalopolis by means of the Bolus-Mordan, an Atlas class cold fusion reactor. Surrounding this reactor were a number of parks and residential zones so that the engineers who worked there full time could live within reasonable distance of their families and various aesthetically pleasing niceties to keep morale high. The dangers posed by the reactor left Receivta more or less untouched, until such time the district was abandoned in fear of rampaging Goblinoids. Shut down and left inert, the rest of Telo-Haljr was forced to rely on a number of backup generators, and the Bolus-Mordan lay forgotten for two hundred years. Mercifully, during this period, there was little destruction to the district, more damage was done by disuse than by looting or active destruction by hostile forces. The reactor had not been rendered irreparable, and it was able to be restarted, providing the single largest source of cheap, clean energy in the system. A new city was built up around it immediately. Now, built up as much like a fortress as it is a citadel, sits Paradise City. Land of oppression and opportunity, where dreams come true and are ground into the dust. It is said that whatever an individual wants in life can be found here, and if that's not available then the next best thing is, if one is willing to pay the price. Paradisian economic planning reflects this statement, the City is more famous for the incredible variety of products and services it imports and exports than its existence as a political neutral grounds used by most of the Trifectan nations for diplomatic functions. The City boasts an impressive population of eight and a half million permanent residents of all known mortal races, based off census records and estimated number of unregistered persons, plus another two million or so tourists, immigrants, and refugees at almost any given time. Such a substantial population is as much a liability as it is an asset however- the City was designed and built to provide housing and workspace for upwards of 20 million. Being roughly below half their potential capacity means that large swaths of the City have been uninhabited ever since they were built. Many of these uninhabited areas, while advertised as open space cheap and available to anyone who desires it, have a tendency to become havens for all manner of undesirable persons, beasts, and beings; usually of belligerent if not outright hostile intent. '' ''On the other hand, so much inexpensive space means that any individual with a decent amount of money can afford to have almost any sort of housing environment they desire built up at very low costs. Because of its position in Telo-Haljr, and the history of the survivors who founded the City, they operate under rules that many nations don't often agree with. The major powers in the City are organizations which, in almost any other nation, would be considered criminals. Gangs, mafias, cartels; business in Paradise City is run by very well organized criminals, who within the confines of the City wield power as legitimate corporate and political entities. Unsurprisingly, a fair number of offworlders and foreigners come to see the place as less of a city and more of a vast opium den, black market, fighting pit, brothel, and slum rolled into one; a near-lawless Hell run by thieves and killers, grown too big for its own good. This isn't entirely untrue; carnivals of sex, drugs, and bloodsports sell well. But such perceptions are at most half-correct criticisms, and at worst blatant lies made for propaganda speeches. Paradise City's political and economic infrastructure was actively designed so that these criminal elements would be in power, constantly jockeying for power and status over their competitors. And many of the City's detractors forget that, regardless of which faction holds the most power, all of them answer to the City's governor- Mr. Cartwright- and his Enforcers Guild. They are the unquestioned kings of the hill. Almost every hoodlum, hitman, banger, hooker, dealer, and well-to-do don swears an oath of fealty to Cartwright and the City; those who do not and decide not to follow the laws set down by the Guild tend to find themselves paying heavy tolls of life, limb, and money. Those who are experts on politics often use the parable of the Mice in Council to describe how the City functions; though the various cartels and gangs handle the lion's share of commerce, they are the mice, and the Guild is the cat that they are too scared to bell. The business of Paradise City is business, or so it is said by public speakers. Its neutrality in the greater Charybdan political structure and skill at viciously defending its territory makes the City an ideal locale for other nations to use as an enormous marketing post, vacation spot, and tourist attraction. In so doing, the City is able to provide itself all the necessities of life and earn considerable amounts of profit, which is critical as the City continues to slowly but steadily grow. Their ability to be self-sufficient has been gone for a while- they no longer possess enough commercial or industrial power to sustain themselves, nor is there much interest in doing so for the time being. Though nationalists often lament this lack of ability to be isolated, it has proven to be vastly more profitable for the City to focus on providing the rest of the system with entertainment and trade opportunities. This has afforded them a number of alliances and non-aggression pacts critical not only to their survival, but the survival of many other nations. Without these, the City would become destitute and most likely crumble in the face of the regular sieges it suffers from its violent neighbors from the ruins of Telo-Haljr. Paradise City is divided up into a series of counties, like how Telo-Haljr was divided into provinces. These sectors are separated by the Division Rivers, huge artificial waterways which not only provide a lovely aesthetic, boating, and fishing opportunities, but clean water due to their direct connection to the underground pipelines and tributaries which bring fresh water all across Ameros via the Lennus Ocean. While the counties have names, none of the rivers nor streets do. Instead they all have a simple numbering system- which makes it a pain for anyone but a local to navigate. Primary Ethnic groupings: Mixed. Order of Racial Commonalities: Human 23%, Draconid 20%, Kemono 18%, Halflings 13%, Planetouched 11%, Dwarves 9%, Lustrosa 4%, Other 2% Primary Languages: Spanish. Secondary Languages: Portuguese, Mandarin, Sylvan. Yeaton Row Wellelston Eden Bazaar Marlietta Old Town Underdise '''How Things Work, or: Offers You Can't Refuse.' Major Factions Minor Factions The Law Paradisian Culture Telo-Haljr Back to Main Page